By Paul O’Halloran

Copyright brisbanetimes

When everyone was in the office, it was easy to see who was present, engaged, or collaborating. Now, managers struggle to know what people are doing, where and when. Some employers think the solution is electronic monitoring on laptops and phones – devices that they provide and workers willingly carry with them everywhere.

Secret recordings carry a stench of distrust, but there is a place for some monitoring of staff, if there are safeguards. This isn’t about the employee who takes a short break to vacuum between tasks or ducks out briefly to do some shopping while working from home. That’s normal and reasonable. I’m talking about employees who abuse flexibility — fudging timesheets, disappearing for hours, delegating their work to others, or prioritising side-hustles during paid time. In those cases, employers are entitled to know where their workers are for significant parts of the day, especially where there’s a history of performance concerns or misconduct.

Surveillance of employees isn’t entirely new. In 2003, postal service in the UK was exposed for covertly filming workers, sparking union disputes. In 2007, a US retailer monitored staff calls and emails. And in 2020, a UK financial institution secretly tracked computer use, even bathroom breaks. Each case had one thing in common: employees felt spied on by their boss, not trusted.

But is surveillance legal? We’re all familiar with the customer service warning that “this call may be recorded for training and quality control purposes” but according to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, Australia’s Privacy Act “doesn’t specifically cover surveillance in the workplace”. What the act does say is that it may be reasonable for employers to monitor some activities “to ensure staff are doing their work and using resources appropriately” if they have been informed in advance.